Category Archives: Motorcycles Suitable for Thailand

This category is all about motorcycles and motors scooters that are suitable for driving in such Southeast Asian countries as Thailand. Due extremely high duties on imported bikes that can nearly double the prices charged in Europe and the U.S. comments about bikes that are prohibitively expensive here, lack parts availability and that are suited chiefly for high speed interstates in Western countries are of no interest here.

Yamaha Nouvo fuel injection controversy

This review of the Yamaha Nouvo SX vs the Nouvo Elegance settles the Yamaha Nouvo fuel injection controversy that started before Yamaha replaced its carbureted 135 c.c. Nouvo Elegance with its state of the art 125 c.c. fuel injected Nouvo SX.

“Why should Yamaha stick with an old fashioned carburetor for its top of the line small automatic motorbike when everyone else has fuel injection?”

the unofficial members of the Honda universal fan club, claimed.   “Why that new space age PCX will get more than 128 miles to the gallon.  And all those relics of the past, especially the Yamaha Elegance with its outmoded carburetor, won’t even come close.  Welcome to this new era of small motorbike exotica.  You will look so good and comfy sitting on your fat ass on board this new PCX wunder bike.”

There’s three fundamental truths here.  The first was that the Yamaha Nouvo 135 c.c. Elegance really did have a starting issue with their carburetors.

Leave an Elegance untouched in the parking lot for more than three days, and the bike becomes a sluggish starter due to gasoline sitting too long in the carburetor.  And if you don’t start an Elegance for a month while taking a vacation, you will be due for a good thirty seconds of cranking the electric start before you can get underway. But unless you are a complete buffoon you will eventually start the bike.  It takes another thirty seconds driving the bike before all the bad fuel gets out of the fuel system.  But it is smooth sailing from then on.  And if the battery runs down there’s a kick start that will get you going, battery or no battery.

 The second fundamental truth is that 135 c.c. carbureted engine was so good that Yamaha kept it going for six years production.

 As for the third fundamental truth,  most people today actually do have fat asses, so for them, perhaps a Honda PCX might be the best choice after all.

But forget about Honda, for the moment.  This is all about two Yamaha Nouvo’s, the old versus the new.  And it’s about the Yamaha Nouvo fuel injection controversy.   When everyone and his brother  marches in lockstep for fuel injection not just the latest and greatest, but the only thing worth having for getting gasoline into a motorbike’s combustion chamber.

Yamaha Nouvo fuel injection controversy
with its blue illuminated gauges the view of the driver is not bad when he’s driving the Nouvo Elegance.

Yamaha listened to all those cries from the wilderness of uninformed disapproval.  And gave us the Yamaha Nouvo SX.

Yamaha Nouvo fuel injection controversy finally settled with the introduction of the Yamaha Nouvo SX 125

Now, the Yamaha Nouvo SX is a nifty little number.  It’s got a smooth fuel injected engine that offers quick and smooth power delivery when you turn the key on.  It has a neat little array of red illuminated gauges that tells you how many kilometers the bike gets per liter.  It even shows  your fuel consumption from one second to the next as you apply or reduce throttle.

The Yamaha Nouvo SX costs only sixty thousand baht (less than $2000 U.S.) This is out the door after you’ve paid the transfer tax and mandatory insurance.  The Nouvo SX handles wonderfully.  Its power delivery is very smooth and ample for just about any driving condition in the Pattaya Thailand area.  And if all that doesn’t win you over to this beautiful little transportation device, its very capable halogen headlight and tail light will illuminate the world for you.

It’s a wonderful little bike, but its engine is still only 125 c.c.s whereas that the Nouvo Elegance it replaced had a spirited 135 c.c. engine.

And when it comes to car and motorcycle engines bigger is usually better.  But not when it comes to fuel economy.  So what’s really going on here?  Is the smaller 125 c.c. engine with state of the art fuel injection really better than the 135 engine of the Elegance?  The Yamaha Nouvo fuel injection controversy still rages on.  But not when you read the Jack Corbett Motorbike Reviews.  Here you will get real numbers that show how good or bad the Yamaha Nouvo Elegance was for fuel economy.

Yamaha Nouvo Elegance vs Yamaha Nouvo SX

Click on the link above to get the main article on the Nouvo Elegance vs the Nouvo SX.  After finishing it you might also want to read this one–Is Yamaha’s Nouvo SX 125 as good as the Nouvo Elegance 135?  Here for the first time you can see just how well the Nouvo Elegance 135 accelerates.  And  how it compares to its 125 c.c. replacement and most of its main competition.

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